Headflood

Jan 17, 2022, 08:31 AM

"Headflood is made from a transmission in 1972 by Radio Nederlandes (RNL) as it celebrates its 25th anniversary. In it we hear Maya, a Dutch citizen in her 50s, describing the disabling chronic headaches she lives with, interspersed with sounds from RNL's anniversary broadcast from Hilversum. I spoke to Maya as the COP26 talks on climate change were taking place, and background themes of climate apocalypse led her to recall the impact of watching the movie Apocalypse Now. The war featured in the film is the subject of RNL news reports featured here. 

Maya also recalls memories of her dad's experience of the storm floods which struck Holland in 1953. Her words are interspersed with reportage from the closure of the first dike at which Maya's dad was present. The blaring of tugs and their horns as the dike closes suggested to me something of the chronic head pain which attacks Maya, blotting out awareness of almost all else. We close with Maya reflecting on the strangeness of the climate now, as she recalls the floods which hit the Netherlands and Belgium again, in the summer of 2021."

Composition by Bev Boyd.

Part of the Shortwave Transmissions project, documenting and reimagining the sounds of shortwave radio - find out more and see the whole project at https://citiesandmemory.com/shortwave